Optimizing AppDirector with AppXcel Application Accelerator

This appendix describes how AppDirector interacts with AppXcel. For further detailed information on the AppXcel platform see the AppXcel User Guide.

AppXcel and AppDirector, Radware’s infrastructure load balancer, are optimized to work together.

AppXcel is a transaction accelerator that is optimized to perform SSL calculations. Off-loading these calculations to AppXcel relieves Web server CPU, thereby increasing its capacity, and increases the service’s potential number of Transactions Per Second (TPS). Combining AppXcel with AppDirector creates a comprehensive solution that dramatically increases network certainty and performance.

When SSL based traffic approaches the network, AppDirector identifies that the traffic must first be decrypted. AppDirector makes a load balancing decision about the best AppXcel accelerator to send the traffic to for decryption. Once the traffic is decrypted, AppDirector receives the traffic back and load balances the decrypted traffic to the best available server.

When you use AppDirector with AppXcel in your ADC, you first create an AppXcel farm on AppDirector. A farm is a group of servers providing the same service. When a new service request arrives, AppDirector identifies the required service and selects the most available server within the farm that provides this service. Each farm is identified by its Virtual IP Address (VIP). This IP address is used by clients to approach the farm and each server within the farm is recognized by its IP address.

For more information about configuring AppXcel with AppDirector, see the AppDirector Technical Solution Guide.